


Sparkly souls slow dancing

by ullman



Category: Backstreet Boys, NSYNC
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-24
Updated: 2010-02-24
Packaged: 2017-10-07 12:49:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/65305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ullman/pseuds/ullman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lance glows.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sparkly souls slow dancing

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Poetrychik (for make the yuletide gay 2009).
> 
> With a huge thank you to Cath for the beta!

Lance glowed in the dark.

 

None of the other guys had ever asked Lance any questions about it, and had seemed to simply accept the fact that, sometimes, their friend would light up in the dark. Much like the fact that, sometimes, Justin would be in desperate need of a nap, but liked to pretend he was only going to bed to make some kind of grand exit to make a point, usually about the most random of things.

 

After a handful of performances they'd come to the conclusion that for some reason Lance didn't light up the stages once the lights had dimmed. Later, after their last performance of the day, when Chris had asked him, from the bathtub, if he'd felt relieved, Lance had nodded and said, "I just wouldn't feel right about upstaging anyone like that."

 

Chris had stared at Lance, his mouth wide open, unable to find the words to explain how that hadn't been a concern for any of them, and had felt slightly better when JC had appeared, and had wrapped his arms around Lance, sighing, "Oh, honey."

 

Of course a boybander who glowed at random times probably wouldn't have been that hard to sell to any of their audiences if they'd had to, and Chris had a feeling Joey had been right when he'd once said, years later, that he doubted people would have been at all surprised: after all, if AJ could light up whenever he wanted to, why couldn't Lance?

 

***

 

One night Kevin visited their suite, apparently in need of discussing some legal documents with Lance. Justin had decided to go to bed seconds after Lance had finally revealed the identity of their visitor earlier that night, and had stormed off theatrically. Chris had wanted to stick around. Maybe because there was something about Kevin, possibly related to several of the many, many things the man had said about them, that had Chris wanting to somehow prove that he was the bigger man. JC had patiently listened to his theories on the subject, before slipping both arms around Chris, humming, "Oh, honey."

 

Awkward greetings had been exchanged, and Lance had just been pouring Kevin a cup of coffee when suddenly the lights flickered, followed by the sound of static. And then nothing but darkness. Darkness and the light glow of Lance, coffee pot suspended in mid air, his hand shaking lightly. Chris heard a surprisingly high-pitched gasp falling from what had to be Joey's lips, because Joey, he did that, and at some point it had been silently decided not to ask him any questions either.

 

Unlike with Lance, whose face showed a mild panic, Chris didn't know what was happening with Kevin, on his side of the room, but he felt it safe to make the not too wild guess that Kevin's eyebrows had reached his hairline: because it simply wasn't that much of a climb in this particular case.

 

About to open his mouth to let out whatever words would come rolling out, Chris sighed with something close to actual relief when the lights flickered once more and the room was bathed in slightly less unnatural light again. He figured there couldn't have been more than a split second of darkness when it turned out that Kevin's eyebrows had only managed to make it as far as mid-forehead.

 

Joey coughed. "He does that," he offered.

 

"Apparently," Kevin said dryly before nodding his thanks when Lance handed him his coffee.

 

***

 

Chris would be the first to admit that he wasn't always that happy with Lance's habit of lighting up at seemingly random times. It had turned out to be especially annoying when sharing a room with him. Even when fast asleep, Lance would still bathe the entire room in a soft, greenish light. And some nights that was perfectly fine, because Chris wasn't too ashamed to admit he actually preferred to sleep with a night light on. But most nights he needed a little something extra to give him that final nudge towards sleep, and for some reason a glowing Lance in the bed next to him became really hard to ignore the moment his hand had found its way to his dick.

 

Lance and his glow, which suddenly seemed almost too bright, either fast asleep or pretending to be out of courtesy, didn't make for the best jerking off scenario. It just felt like someone was watching him and while that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it somehow put him off nine out of ten times. Of course some of those tenth times had been pretty memorable. Tonight, however, was one of those nine times, and after a couple of minutes of half-hearted rubbing through his shorts, Chris finally gave up, flattening the palm of his hand against his dick for a brief moment before getting out of bed and slowly making his way to the bathroom.

 

"Oh, honey," JC laughed, and slipped both arms around Chris to pull him up after he'd found Chris the following morning, curled up in the bathtub, fast asleep.

 

***

 

Somehow what had started as an almost begrudging friendship, after the night they'd experienced that power outage, had turned into Lance and Kevin suddenly becoming something that came close to actual best friends. Having told himself he'd given up his attempts to prove whatever point he'd been trying to make, Chris still found himself hanging around a lot whenever Kevin visited.

 

"Did you know Lance actually, finally, finished the Harry Potter series?" Chris asked randomly once the commercial break started and he'd muted the sound. Kevin looked a little confused at the question, and so he clarified, "I'm not talking about just the movies either."

 

Kevin grinned. "Is that so? Well, I do like a man who actually knows how to read, albeit slowly," he said.

 

"And, you know, kids' books and all, that's just great. I mean, we all had to start someplace," Chris added.

 

Clearing his throat, Lance said, "You guys do know I'm sitting right here, right?"

 

Kevin turned his head, giving Lance an almost withering look. "You do know you're kind of hard to miss, right?"

 

"Y'all could turn the lights back on," glow-in-the-dark Lance suggested.

 

"We're just trying to save some energy," Chris said.

 

Kevin nodded, grinning. "Just trying to do our part," he supplied. "I am very environmentally conscious and all."

 

"I'm just doing my part, he's kind of showing off now," Chris interjected, smiling smugly.

 

"He kind of is," Lance said with a soft chuckle, before winking exaggeratedly at Kevin. "But hey, I do like a man who isn't afraid to show off a little."

 

Chris gave Lance a sideways glance, nodding absently. "I can see that, I guess," he mumbled.

 

"Are you sure about that?" Kevin asked quietly, just before the commercial break finally ended, and Chris automatically turned the sound back on.

 

***

 

Lance, like all of them, would provide his friends with occasional, and usually completely involuntary, entertainment. With Lance the entertainment usually revolved around his saltatory inabilities, and rarely did it actually involve his more luminous abilities. Apart from that one time when Lance came stumbling into Chris and JC's hotel room in the middle of the night. Lance appeared to be covered in glitter and, seconds after the door had fallen shut behind him, he lit up the room like a glittery lava lamp. JC immediately seemed mesmerized.

 

Lance, though, seemed to be about to fall over and so, after quickly helping him to strip down to his boxers, while doing his best to not wonder why every inch of Lance's body seemed to glow _and_ sparkle, Chris offered Lance his bed.

 

Later, after Chris had gotten stranded in Joey and Lance's room on his way to the one bathroom with an actual bath in hopes of getting a couple more hours of sleep, JC joined them. Folding himself around Joey, and tucking his head over Joey's shoulder, JC sighed, a hint of disappointment in his voice, "He stopped sparkling."

 

***

 

Nick leaned back in his chair, happily sighing, "I'm _so_ done. I couldn't eat any more if I tried." He patted his belly.

 

Chris did the same, until Nick batted his hand away. "Not half bad, Kevin," he told their host.

 

Lance nodded his appreciation then covered his mouth before, around a mouthful of chicken, murmuring, "Nothing much wrong with some half-decent home cookin'."

 

Kevin smiled. "You're too kind," he drawled, lifting his glass in silent cheers then bringing it to his lips. He took a sip of his wine, and winked at Lance over the rim off his glass. "I made pie, too," he told no one in particular.

 

Nick's eyes widened with glee. "You know there's always room for pie," he said without hesitation, smiling.

 

"Always," Chris agreed with similar enthusiasm.

 

"I do like a guy who likes his food," Lance murmured, reaching for his glass once he'd swallowed the last mouthful of the chicken Kevin had prepared for them.

 

"Yeah, I guess you do," Kevin drawled, absently playing with the remaining food on his plate.

 

***

 

When Chris returned from a short visit with his family, the other guys all appeared to be uncharacteristically subdued.

 

"Did you guys miss me that much, or are you just really disappointed I'm back so soon?" Chris asked, dropping his luggage where he stood before turning to close the door behind him. Luggage forgotten for a second, Chris remembered it the next when he stumbled over his suitcase, his flailing limbs hitting the light switch by accident. He hit the floor with a thud, a startled shriek from Joey following his unceremonious nosedive.

 

Having expected JC to help him up off the ground, as well as the whispered words that followed, Chris was a little surprised, given the initial lack of enthusiasm, when JC tightened his arms around him, hugging Chris to his chest with all his might.

 

"Welcome back, man," Justin said, reaching out to slap him on his back as Joey chimed in with almost as much enthusiasm. From across the room, Lance glowed.

 

***

 

Chris shook his head when Nick wouldn't stop complaining about his selection of cuisine. "You just don't know what you're talking about, man. I mean, I know Kevin's been spoiling all of you with all his fancy cooking, but there's nothing like going back to your roots."

 

"My roots are macaroni and cheese?" Nick asked from where he was perched on top of the kitchen table.

 

"You're American, aren't you?" Chris asked, shaking the box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. "Now, just go and mingle with the other guests and let me do all the work."

 

"My kind of guy," Lance declared teasingly.

 

Chris grinned. "I'm guessing that's why you're never getting any. Because some of us prefer a guy who puts in some effort, too," he said, winking at Kevin who'd just walked into the kitchen with JC in tow. "Right, Kev?"

 

"Right," Kevin said quietly.

 

"Oh, honey," JC said, the words barely more than a whisper, and wrapped both his arms around Kevin from behind.

 

Leaning back into the touch without even noticing, Kevin caught Nick looking at them, arching his eyebrow at Kevin, but Kevin just shrugged and said, "He does that."

 

***

 

One night, Chris opened the door to find Kevin on his doorstep. Despite their budding friendship, mostly a result of the close friendship between Kevin and Lance he'd assumed, Chris was a little surprised. Even more so when he could smell the alcohol on Kevin's breath.

 

"Having a good night?" Chris asked innocently.

 

"Lance glows," Kevin drawled, his shoulders hunched, and his hands buried deep in his pockets.

 

"Is that a sentence that needs finishing or did the whole glowing thing need some time to sink in and you're just now catching on? Because that's okay, man." Chris stepped back to let Kevin inside. "Like a wise man once said, let's forget the fact that you're coming a little late to the party and embrace the fact that you showed up at all," he added, having always known remembering that particular quote would come in handy some day.

 

"Lance glows," Kevin's voice trailed off again as he flopped down onto the couch. His brow furrowed as he struggled to get his hands out of his pockets.

 

Since it wasn't nearly as much fun when Kevin wasn't even listening, Chris forced himself to keep from making any more clever comments. Instead, he sat down onto the coffee table, leaning in and taking hold of Kevin's arms, freeing the man's hands from the pockets with practiced ease: sometimes it came in handy having some experience with being the actual big brother.

 

"Lance glows for you," Kevin finally said, staring down at his hands with wide-eyed wonder, as if he'd expected never to see them again and not knowing whether or not to be glad they'd been reunited.

 

Chris's eyes narrowed, and he leaned closer. "What's that now?" he asked, because the finished sentence definitely made even less sense than his half-sentence had.

 

"He doesn't glow when you're not around," Kevin clarified once Chris had reached out again to tilt up his chin, forcing Kevin to meet his eyes.

 

"He doesn't?" Chris frowned, not sure what to make of Kevin's words. He couldn't remember a time when Lance hadn't glowed, which, come to think of it, could be Kevin's actual point. "Wait, are we talking literally or figuratively here?"

 

"What, because that's what's important here?" Kevin asked, his words slightly slurred and tinted with just a hint of bitterness, and he pulled away from Chris. "Anyway," he sighed, all of a sudden sounding a lot less drunk, and a whole lot of tired. "Is there a difference?"

 

"I don't know, I just…" Chris shrugged helplessly.

 

Kevin blinked owlishly. "Is that a sentence that needs finishing or are you just catching on there?"

 

***

 

Chris knew he was probably being something of a coward, but he still needed well over a week before he even allowed himself to consider the question whether or not it mattered if Kevin had actually been telling the truth. He tossed and turned for over half an hour as he thought about what Kevin had told him. After that, he spent well over half an hour making shadow puppets with his hands, using the shadow Lance's glow cast on the wall, not quite ready to face the answer he'd come up with well within those first thirty minutes. Because of course it mattered, and he didn't need the full half an hour nor do a whole lot of soul searching to know it had probably mattered all along.

 

Chris felt a little guilty once it also occurred to him that maybe he'd not so much wanted to prove he was a bigger man than Kevin, but that he was in fact, a better man: for Lance. He trusted the magic of the shadow puppets to help him forget about whatever guilt came with that particular revelation for the time being.

 

Come morning, JC was sitting on the edge of his bed. "Oh honey," he said. "I'm really happy for you." JC folded his arms in front of his chest, smiling brightly.

 

Chris arched an eyebrow questioningly. "What, no hug?" he asked.

 

JC scrunched up his nose. "You smell. Go and shower, and maybe I'll think about it then."

 

***

 

After JC had left, Chris had rolled onto his side, squinting at the alarm clock on the night stand, before reaching for his glasses when the blurry numbers failed to make any sense. With glasses firmly in place the numbers made a lot more sense, and he'd just sat up after deciding that it was still too early for a shower, when Lance emerged from the bathroom, freshly showered and smelling like pine cone.

 

"I do like a guy who has that nice car smell," he joked, not needing Lance arched eyebrow to know the words hadn't come out sounding as casual as intended. But Lance didn't say a thing, and so Chris decided to try a different approach. "So, you know this thing we don't talk about," he said, gesturing vaguely.

 

"There are lots of things we don't talk about," Lance pointed out after a moment's silence.

 

"Sure, but I'm not talking about Joey's eerie ability to squeal like a little girl," Chris provided helpfully. "And I'm not talking about Justin's need for nap time either."

 

Lance nodded. "Although that is definitely one of those many things I love about Joey." He moved closer to Chris's bed. "I guess we're also not going to discuss those bathtub incidents of yours either?" he asked, smiling knowingly.

 

Chris shook his head. "No, we're definitely not discussing those," he told Lance, absently registering Lance's scent when the man got closer, recognizing it as pine apple this time, which probably explained the tanking of his car joke. "I am sort of hoping to discuss you glowing in the dark, though," he added hesitantly, because, by some kind of unspoken agreement, none of them had ever tried to discuss it again. Not after Lance's upstaging comment all these years ago, anyway.

 

"Oh, _that_," Lance said innocently, acting as if he'd had no idea what Chris had been hinting at. Lance had never been the most gifted of actors, and he was well aware of that fact himself.

 

"Yeah, that," Chris nodded, coughing to clear his throat, and making a mental note to kill Kevin if it turned out that he was that one rare drunk who only spoke nonsense when drunk, instead of totally fixing other people's love lives. He closed his eyes, deciding to go for broke, using the line he'd come up with that night, and had immediately rejected, "I heard that maybe you're not just lighting up the dark. I heard you were actually lighting up _my_ dark."

 

"Damn," Lance said, his voice trembling with something Chris desperately hoped to be laughter, but because he had yet to open his eyes, he wasn't sure, and so he just waited.

 

After a minute or so had passed, Chris felt the mattress dip with what had to be Lance's weight, but since he couldn't be sure unless he actually looked, he opened his eyes to, indeed, find Lance sitting on the edge of his bed. In the exact same spot where JC had sat earlier. Chris attempted what had to be a pretty nervous looking smile as he reached up to push his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "Damn?" he prompted.

 

"_Damn_," Lance drawled, the smile that spread across his face reminding Chris of dark nights and soft, comforting night lights. Chris hadn't thought it possible, but Lance's smile widened when he continued, "I do like a guy who knows how to crack a bad joke."

 

"Really? Because, in that case? You're gonna _love_ me," Chris said, feeling the corners of his mouth tug up in a smile so bright he had a feeling his teeth would be hurting later. He couldn't remember having ever felt better than right this very moment, realizing Kevin had been telling the truth: there was no difference.

 

In the early morning light, Lance glowed.


End file.
